You may be shut in, but God doesn't shut down

We learned something about God, during the Covid Pandemic: The world around us might shut-down, but God will shut us in while we ride out the storm. 

In many ways, we were like Noah and his family who were shut-ins on the ark for one year. Genesis 7:16 says "And the Lord shut them in."

During that time, there was no place for the ark to land and no food outside of the ark. However, everything the shut-ins needed to sustain them for the difficult weeks and months ahead was on board.

 Those who are shut-in may not be able to go out, but the love of God sustains them. It's an inconvenience to be shut in, but it is often a blessing in disguise. During the Covid Pandemic of 2020-2022, literally millions of people were quarantined in their homes for weeks at a time. Despite the quarantine, many could work from home, receive care, and survive. Students studied in a virtual classroom; doctors gave virtual checkups, and delivery services brought food and other necessities to million. God sustained millions.

 The world was literally shut-in while the pandemic raged, but God sustained us.

 While we were shut-in, we held our heavenly father's strong and confident hand as we joined hands with our family and prayed.

 When God shut us in, he did not shut down. 

 Government offices shut down, but God did not shut down.

 School closed, but God did not shut down.

 Airplane flights were canceled, but God did not shut down.

 Just as God sustained the occupants of the ark while the entire world shut down, God sustained us and brought us through to dry ground.

 If you are shut-in today, remember that God's grace is sustaining you. 

 You may be shut in, but he has not shut down.

Day old Bread of life?

 Many families have survived difficult times purchasing  "day old" bread. 

 This is the bread that has passed the normal one or two-day shelf life limitation for grocery store bread.

   Store deliverymen usually brought new bread on regular days of the week and placed the fresh loaves on the front of the shelves. They placed the day-old bread on the back of the shelf. 

Smart shoppers always picked their bread from the bottom or back of the stack, knowing that the fresh bread is always farthest from the front.

   For some home economists, there is nothing worse than day-old bread. It is not as fresh, gets hard and the older it gets has a tendency to mold.

  Many of the local bakers stocked fresh bread on the first of the week, and some restocked near the end of the week. Anything purchased in between is "day old."

  "Day old" wasn't good enough.

  We thank God that the Bread of Life doesn't have a shelf life and doesn't mold. Jesus says, "I am the bread of life."

  The bread of life won't grow old and certainly won't mold.

Can you believe the price of Gas?

 The cost of everything has gone up. In some places in the country, a gallon of gas is $8.00. In my area, it’s about $4.59 a gallon. Whether it is $8.00 or $4.59, that’s pretty high.

 It’s not just gasoline; everything else has gone up, including bread, meat, vegetables, and toilet paper. Big Macs and Whopper are still fast food, but the prices for a Mac and fries can put a dent in your wallet.

 When I was a child, I worked at my father’s gas station pumping gas. I was excited to watch the numbers tick off as I squeezed the nozzle. If the customer ordered five gallons of gas and handed me a dollar bill, I had to run inside to get change. Gasoline was only 16 cents a gallon then. I gave the customer .20 cents change. That was 1959.

  In 1980, the unbelievable happened, gas prices around the country hit $1.00. It made national news. It was unbelievable. 

  The old gas pumps had to be recalibrated. Many could not display double-digit numbers for gas purchases; after all, 20 gallons of gas only cost $3.20. 

 We thought, “What is the world coming to?” Who can pay $1.00 a gallon? 

 Nothing stopped the increase. President Nixon even ordered the speed limit across the nation reduced to 55 miles an hour. That was 1974, but the price

Our relationship with God is real

   Our relationship with God sometimes mirrors our personal relationship with others.

   Some people prefer to live single with no emotional relationship with any person. Millions of people in the world live happy lives as singles without the need for another to fulfill themselves. Such singles have friends with whom they share important moments, successes, and failures. Their relationships are purely platonic without intimacy or commitment of any kind. Such arrangements are actually encouraged in the bible, especially for those involved in ministry.

   Beyond the godly single life, there is a growing list of other types of relationships including:

   A Spuggie is a single person who wants no relationship but just needs someone for the moment for a quick fix. Spuggies specialize in one-night stands, hookups, and late-night calls with people they may not even know.

   Sponsor. A sponsor has no feeling in the relationship at all. It is strictly commercial. A sponsor pays bills, provides resources, and doles out money. A sponsor is a gold miner, the person with money; the other partner is the gold digger, whose role is to get as much gold as possible before the strike runs out. The gold digger has no concern about the mine or the miner.

   We enjoy a covenant relationship with God. He is not a "spuggie," a God of convenience, or a gold miner. We are not gold diggers, seeking what we can get, and he does not sponsor us, giving us what we want in return for what he wants. Our relationship is based on love and sacrifice.

   God loves us despite our unworthiness. He demonstrated that love by giving himself for us. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

  That's the one question test forany relationship, would you die for me?

  The answer tells the story.

 

Mankind is charged to have dominion

   Mankind has a responsibility to take care of the earth. Men have a responsibility to protect and provide for their families. In many ways, we are failing in both areas.

In Genesis 1:26, the Adam family was charged with having "Dominion" over all creation. Dominion means leadership and responsibility. 

  Many men are failing in the area of leadership. There is no shortage of men biologically. There is no shortage socially. There is, however, a growing shortage of men in the leadership of the home, church, school, and the general community. 

   It is no mistake that a growing number of communities are seeing their women rise up to fill vacancies created by the absence of men in leadership. 

   Where there is a son or a daughter, there is a father somewhere, but in many cases, the mother is providing the family leadership. 

   Where there is a church, women are rising to chair the committees and shoulder the responsibilities of men. An increasing number of women are becoming elected officials on school boards and other civic bodies in the community because of a leadership vacuum. Adam, Where art thou?

    Men, especially African-American men, have generally taken a backseat to leadership, and women are being forced to manage families and assume leadership outside of their families at the same time.

    Let's pray that our men grow stronger and come out of hiding.

    God expects godly leadership of the world, our nation, communities, and homes. 

    When God calls, let him for our men busy doing his work.

You gotta have swag

     One of former President Obama’s most redeeming qualities was that he had “swag.”

   He looked like he was in control and entered a room a podium with an air confidence that was inspirational.

   

    A person with swag gets attention.

   

If you ask the thug, having swag means to walk into a room with a walk that says you are the toughest, meanest dude in the room. 

    To the ghetto fabulous, it means to wear flashy clothes, with lots of glitz and diamonds, and fancy pick-up lines for the women. There are those with professional swag who stand tall and walk with a gait as if they owned the world.

In this view, the man or woman with swag is loaded with witty conversation, a designer label on a dress, and real hair soft enough to run fingers through.

   Godly Swagger is the man or woman who enters a room with the knowledge that the king of the world empowers him/her, but remains humble enough to keep the common touch. 

    Spiritual swagger dresses for the occasion, with taste and restraint, not too much here or showing so much there. It is confident, yet humble; it is sensitive to the feelings of others, polite, and mannerable.

    

   Godly swag is possessed by the man or woman whose walk in life has a purpose. It really has nothing to do with their walk, the clothes they wear, or their wealth. Their purpose walks into the room before they do.

   Their sense of purpose is what gives them Godly swag. 

 

   Romans 13:13 says, “Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.” That’s spiritual swag.

   We should remember that our purpose is clear and is just.

   When our life-walk displays this attitude we have SWAG.

   Today, be confident and bold. You are a saved saint. You have Swag!